1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for an electronic copying machine, a printer, a facsimile equipment and the like, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus of a portable type provided with handles for transportation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The image forming apparatus such as the electronic copying machine, printer and facsimile equipment, has hitherto been promoted to be compact and lightweight as a whole with the miniaturization of the circuit element. The conventional electronic copying machine has usually been very heavy and of large-size, thereby having been provided at four corners with handles horizontally projectable and retractable with respect to the main body of the copying machine respectively. The main body, when transported, is raised with the handles drawn out, gripped and raised by two operators. As a result, two operators are indispensable for transporting the image forming apparatus.
But, recently, a small-sized and lightweight image forming apparatus, especially an electronic copying machine, has been developed to be transportable by only one operator. Such image forming apparatus, however, must be raised by an operator using both hands holding the bottom of the body at both sides thereof, thereby being not easy to transport.
An example of the image forming apparatus is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,359, which is provided at the side walls of the copying machine with the handles. Such consideration, however, does not refer to the copying machine being dividable into upper body and lower body into two. The image forming apparatus, such as copying machine having the construction of dividable into upper body and lower body into two can be small-sized because these is no need of providing in the body a jam disposal space (through which the operator inserts his hand into the apparatus for the jam disposal), thereby being easily transportable with a handle provided at one side. But the problems here are the safe transportation and the safe locking mechanism of the apparatus of being such a construction dividable into two when in long use. Concretely, in a case where the handle is provided at one side face of the image forming apparatus dividable into two, the locking mechanism, when the body is raised for transportation and during the transportation, is subjected to a load to create a backlash, and especially, the upper and lower halves of the body shift or twist each other, thereby creating the problem in that the image stable in quality is impossible to be formed.
Also, the locking mechanism is required not to be disengaged during the transportation, and should ensure the safe transportation even if disengaged.